The Darkness Within
by Naomh
Summary: Izaya suddenly reappears after being missing for over two months. The others are trying to find out what happened to him and learn some new things about the informant along the way. Shizaya! Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone! The idea for this story had been in my head for months, and now I finally managed to write it down. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara!**

* * *

It was already pretty dark in Ikebukuro and rain was pouring down on the streets. There only were a few people around who were rushing to their destination, hoping to escape the rain soon. They didn't notice the young man who was walking slowly while clinging at the grey blanket that he wore over his shoulders. It was an old and dirty blanket that may have been white once.

His clothes weren't exactly clean either. His black t-shirt and black pants were covered in dirt and blood and were ripped at some places, showing off bits of his pale skin which was covered in bruises. He wore no shoes or socks and his feet also had some blood on them.

If you took a closer look at the man's face, you could see the dirt and blood which it was covered in as well, his black hair that clung to his forehead and the slightly parted mouth through which he has breathing heavily. But what would stand out the most, were his dull, red eyes that he hardly could keep open. They just looked dead.

His whole body hurt and with every step he took, a new wave of pain washed through him. The man didn't even know where he was going. Actually, he did know where he wanted to go. Home. But he didn't know if he would make it there. The pain was intense and he wasn't really aware of his surroundings anymore.

When the pain became too much, the man leaned against the wall of a house next to him, and slowly slid down. He knew he probably shouldn't be doing this, but he couldn't care at this moment.

The intense pain was still there, but it had been worse while he was walking. He lifted his head a bit to take a look at his surroundings but he couldn't focus on anything, so closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. He concentrated on his hearing, but all the noises just mixed together, making it impossible to identify them.

He could feel himself drifting into unconsciousness, before he heard the sound of a horse. It was a familiar sound, but he didn't know where he knew it from. He opened his eyes, hoping to find answers, but was immediately greeted with a bright light which caused him to close his eyes again.

When the man suddenly felt a touch on his upper arm, his eyes shot open and he tried to get away from it. He didn't get far, as the sudden movement caused him a lot of pain but the hand left nonetheless, making him feel a bit calmer.

When there was again no movement for a while, the man felt his eyes slid close and now fully drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

Celty had been on her way back from a job when she saw a person on the ground. She got off from her bike and walking towards this person, in order to see if he was alright. All she could see right now was a mop of black hair and a dirty, gray blanket, which also had a few, seemingly fresh, bloodstains.

But she wasn't prepared for what she saw next. When she took a closer look at the person, she immediately recognized him. Orihara Izaya. The man who had been missing for over two months. And now here he was, injured and barely conscious.

Celty quickly pulled out her phone. [_Izaya! Are you ok?_] She wrote before holding the phone in front of the man's face. She knew that the question was kinda stupid, since she could see that he was clearly injured, but she still needed a response from the man.

Izaya began to open his eyes, but immediately shut them again. Celty put her phone away and tried to gain the man's attention by touching his shoulders, which caused the man to flinch and trying to get away from her, but was stopped by the pain from the sudden movement.

Not knowing what else to do, she waited for Izaya to calm down. When he had lost his consciousness, she took the opportunity to pick him up and lay him down into the sidecar of her bike.

* * *

She now was sitting on the couch in Shinra's apartment and waited for the doctor to finish up his for. He was quite shocked when Celty had showed up with Izaya, but began to treat the man immediately.

When Shinra exited the guest room, Celty got up from the couch and began to write a message on her phone. [How is he?]

"He's stable for now. Aside from a from a few cuts and little gash on his head, he hasn't much external wounds, so I'm guessing that all that blood on his clothes isn't his. But what worries me, are the many bruises all over his body, which are all in different healing stages. For now, I've cleaned him up, treated his wounds and gave him painkillers." Shinra explained.

Celty paused shortly before writing her next message. [Where do you think Izaya was during these 2 months?]

"I don't know, but judging from his current state, it wasn't a pleasant place. But he should wake up soon, so we can ask him then."

[Do you think he will tell us?]

Shinra sighed. "No, probably not. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

Celty was about to reply, when they heard a loud knocking on the front door. Shinra walked over to said door and opened it, revealing a rather impatient-looking Shizuo.

"Shizuo, what a pleasant surprise! It's been such a long time!" Shinra greeted his friend happily.

"It's only been a few weeks." Shizuo said, looking anything but happy.

"Ah, well… what is it that I can do for you?"

"What about letting me in?"

"That's rather inconvenient. I have a patient here."

"It won't take long." Shizuo said, already pushing the smaller man aside and walking in. Once inside, he began looking around strangely.

[Is something wrong, Shizuo?] Celty showed him her phone and he turned his attention to her.

"No…"

[So what did you want to talk about?]

"It's about Izaya."

"Izaya? What about Izaya?" Shinra asked.

"He's been away for quite a while now."

"Yes, I noticed that."

"Do you where he is or what he is doing?" Shizuo asked.

"No, why should I know something like that?" Shinra answered, rubbing his neck nervously and looking over to Celty, silently asking for help.

"I bet he is plotting something."

[I don't think he is plotting anything.]

"Eh? You're on his side now?" Shizuo asked angrily.

[No, I just think he has something else to do than that.]

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You know something."

"What do you mean? We know as much as you do." Shinra insisted.

Shizuo looked around the room again, before focusing on the door to the guest room. "He is here, isn't he?"

"What are you talking about, Shizuo? Ah, wait-" Shinra said, but Shizuo was already opening the door.

* * *

**And that was the first chapter! I originally thought that it would be longer, but oh well. Please review and tell me what you think so far. I would appreciate it very much.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey... It been a while, hasn't it? I really sorry it took so long for me to update this story! I'm so lazy and I procrastinate everything. But I will try to update faster next time.**

**But now I what to thank everyone for the amazing feedback I recived. I honestly didn't expect that, so thank you very much! **

**And now on with the story!**

* * *

Shizuo stopped in his tracks as soon as he even set one foot in the room. His eyes widened slightly in surprise and disbelieve at what he saw. On the bed in front of him lay Izaya. His eyes were closed and he had an IV in his arm and a bandage around his head. The white blanket on top of him covered most of his body and made his skin look very pale. The color that stood out the most was the purple and blue from the bruises on the raven's exposed arm.

And as if this whole scenario wasn't already strange enough, Shizuo didn't even feel any hate rushing through his body. At least not as much as he usually felt when he saw that man. Right now he was just shocked by the fact that his enemy, who he always tried to kill but never succeeded to even harm him, was now badly beaten up and lying in front of him.

Who could someone possibly manage to do that? Has this something to do with his disappearance? What did he do to end up in this situation? Is this even real, or some sort of trick?

Shizuo shock his head, getting rid of his thoughts.

"Shinra, care to explain this to me?" Shizuo asked, facing the doctor.

"Ah, well, you see... Hmm, this is a bit difficult." Shinra replied nervously.

"How about you tell me what the hell he is doing here!" He said with a slightly raised voice. "Was he here the whole time?"

"No, Celty just brought him here a few hours ago."

Shizuo turned to Celty, expecting an answer from her.

[It's true. I found him earlier when it was still raining. He was in a really bad state.]

"So you don't know what happened?" Shizuo asked, wanting to make sure.

"That's right." Shinra answered.

"And what's wrong with him?"

"Well, he has a little gash on his forehead, a few cuts and many bruises all over his body. It doesn't seem like he has any broken bones, but I won't know the details until he wakes up. I hope you understand now why we think that he isn't up to something."

They're conversation was interrupted by a soft groan coming from the bed, causing them all to turn around.

Izaya slowly opened his eyes and then brought the arm with the IV in it up to his face to cover himself from the light.

"Izaya, you're awake! How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, rushing to Izaya's side.

"Shinra?" The raven asked with a hoarse voice.

Said person took a glass of water from the little table besides the bed and handed it to the injured man, who eagerly drank it until it was empty. After he handed the glass back, Izaya tried to sit up but was stopped by the worried doctor.

"You shouldn't move too much, yet." Shinra advised him.

Izaya relaxed a bit and closed his eyes before asking "Why am I here?"

"Celty brought you here after you passed out on the streets. Then I cleaned you up and treated your wounds." After a pause he added "What happened to you, Izaya?"

But it didn't seem like Izaya intended to answer that question. Instead, he turned his head, so that he could look out of the window and the back of his head was facing the others.

"Just answer the question, will you?" A gruff voice said.

At that, Izaya immediately turned his head around and saw, to his surprise, Shizuo standing in the doorway. He stared at him for a short moment before he looked at Celty who was standing next to him, then Shinra and then Shizuo again.

And suddenly there was a small smirk appearing on the raven's face. "Shizu-chan! How nice to see you. Did you come here to visit me?"

"Shut up, flea! Just answer the fucking question!" Shizuo told him, feeling the hate, which was missing just moments ago, rushing through his body, while the other two were surprised at Izaya's sudden attitude change.

"Hmm… No. I don't think I will do that." Izaya said; his smirk widening.

"You little-" Shizuo began as he made a step forward, ready to attack the man, but was stopped by shadows wrapping around his body, which made it impossible to move.

[You shouldn't attack him. At least not while he is in this condition.]

Shizuo made a sound of disapproval, but didn't make another move at the raven when he was released from the shadows. Instead, he turned the exact opposite way and walked towards the front door.

"Shizuo, wait! Where are you going?" Shinra asked.

"Home! I don't want to deal with this shit anymore." The blonde answered the slammed the door shut.

After that, silence surrounded the remaining three, before Izaya spoke up. "Well, I think I should be going as well." He said while trying to sit up again with the feelings of pain clearly visible on his face.

"What? You're in no condition to leave, Izaya!" The doctor told him.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're clearly not! Did you even look at yourself?" Shinra said with a raised voice, surprising Izaya, as well as Celty. "I'm sorry." He said after he calmed down a bit. "All I'm asking you is to stay here for a while until you're better. After that you're free to leave."

Izaya seemed to be thinking really hard about the offer, before he answered.

"Alright."

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**Yeah... that was the chapter. I'm really sorry for making you wait so long for a new chapter and then I give you such a short one! I'm truly disappointed with myself. Anyway... Reviews are much appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo, It's been some time... again. Yeah, sorry it took so long.**

* * *

It's been a week since the day Celty found Izaya and brought him to Shinra's apartment. The doctor insisted that Izaya stayed until he was better. He also tried to ask Izaya what had happened to him and where he had been several times, but the informant would response by either changing the subject or just ignoring the doctor completely.

Other than that, there weren't any other problems. Izaya was in the guest room most of the time, so he didn't get in the way when Shinra had a patient. Luckily, there wasn't anyone with serious injuries, so he was able to treat all of his patients in the living room, because it that had been the case, the doctor had no choice but to send them to another doctor.

It would have pained Shinra not to be able to treat his patient, but he was taking care of Izaya and he wouldn't neglect his friend in order to help a person he didn't even know.

Izaya's recovery was going quite good, although he still felt pain when he moved too much. The bruises and the small cuts were almost completely gone and he didn't need a bandage around his head anymore.

As for the pain, there was nothing Shinra could do about that, since Izaya refused to take any more pain medication than he thought was necessary, which equals nothing.

Today, while Celty was out and Shinra was doing some research on his computer, Izaya soundlessly got out of his room and went into the kitchen, searching for something to eat, since it was already noon and the last time he had eaten something was yesterday evening.

He looked into the fridge but closed it when he didn't find anything edible. He then opened one of the cupboards and stretched his arm in order to reach something but realized shortly after that that may hasn't been the best idea as he felt a wave of pain shooting through his body, causing the object he was holding, which was a jar with cereal in it, to crash onto the floor.

"Shit," Izaya mumbled while looking at the mess in front of him and absentmindedly rubbing his arm.

Shinra soon joined him, a shocked expression on his face. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"No, I just accidently dropped the jar, no big deal," Izaya replied, giving the doctor his trademark smirk.

Shinra looked at the jar and then at the cupboard. He sighed. "Didn't I tell you to call me when you need help with something?"

"I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine by myself," Izaya said, his smirk fading.

"It doesn't look that way to me right now," Shinra replied, earning a glare from the other man. "Look," Shinra continued. "if you don't want my help, then at least take the pain medication."

"Like I said before… I'm perfectly fine by myself, even without pain medication."

"Izaya, would you just stop being so stubborn. It's clear that you are in pain and that there are a few things that you can't do on your own, so why don't you accept the help when it's given to you?"

Izaya didn't answer to that. He just kept glaring at the doctor.

"Now, why don't you go back to your room while I clean this up and make you something to eat afterwards?" Shinra suggested.

Izaya didn't move for a few seconds, but then he slowly went back to 'his' room. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Then he just stood there, not moving and staring into space, while he let his thoughts run wild.

Why did Shinra insist so much on helping him? He wasn't some weak and helpless human who couldn't do anything on his own. He was able to do everything on his own and without the help of others. Sure, sometimes there are some difficulties, but nothing he couldn't handle.

He also didn't need any pain medication. He won't allow himself to depend on pain medication and be controlled by it. He had enough of not be able to control what was happening to him.

No. He didn't want to think about that now. For the last few days he tried with all his might to suppress the memories. During the day it mostly worked, except maybe for a few short flashbacks every now and then, but he was able to suppress them quickly most of the time.

But at night, when he was asleep, he wasn't able to suppress the memories, so he always woke up covered in sweat, his heart beating fast, and the nightmare fresh in his mind.

Izaya shook his head, now finally moving towards the bed. As soon as he got in pulled the blanket over himself, there was a knock on the door and Shinra came in, a tablet with a steaming bowl on it in his hands.

"I just made a simple soup, I hope that's ok," he said, putting the tablet on the nearby bed table. "It's hot, so be careful," he added.

Izaya said nothing in return. He pulled the table closer to himself and stared blankly at the soup.

"It's okay to accept help from others, you know. I'm not doing it because I think you're not capable of doing it on your own, but because I don't want to see my friend in pain."

Izaya still didn't say anything.

"Okay, I'll leave alone, then. Come over or just call me when you need something," the doctor said with a sad smile and then he left.

Izaya didn't mean to be so mean to his only friend, who was nothing but nice to the informant for the past week, but Izaya just couldn't handle the look in the doctors eyes and how he was always offering help. Izaya didn't need that. He wasn't weak.

After he finished his soup, Izaya got up and went to the bathroom. He showered and then changed into fresh clothes. Celty had gone to his apartment and brought some of his clothes, as well as his mobile and his laptop.

He had dozens of texts and messages, asking where he was and why he wasn't replying. Izaya just told everyone that he won't be working for some time, not giving any explanations or answers to their questions.

After he was done with that, he called Namie, who was very angry at him for not contacting her earlier. Izaya told her to take some paid vacation and hung up.

When Izaya was fully dressed, he looked into the mirror, staring at his reflection. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes, which came from not being able to sleep properly at night. Would he be able to sleep better if he was in his own bed? Well, he could ask Shinra for sleeping pills, but then he would have to tell Shinra what he needed them for, and that was something Izaya didn't want the doctor to know.

But Shinra probably wouldn't let Izaya go home either; thinking that he still needed time to recover. He could try to just leave, but Shinra would surely prevent him from doing so and in his current state he couldn't fight back.

After drying his hair with a towel, Izaya stepped out of the bathroom and made his way back to his room, but stopped immediately when he saw the scene in front of him.

On the couch in the living room were sitting Shizuo and Shinra, who were now looking at Izaya. Shizuo with an angry look on his face, and Shinra with a somewhat panicked and shocked expression.

Izaya was looking at both of them with a neutral expression, but then his gaze was locked on Shizuo, who looked at him with nothing but hatred and anger in his eyes. Izaya liked that somehow. There was no pity or anything in his eyes. Just pure hatred.

"What the hell are you looking at, you stupid flea?!" Shizuo said angrily. "And why are you even still here?"

Izaya allowed himself to smirk. "Shizu-chan, how are you? Are you here to visit me again?" he asked, completely ignoring what the other man just said.

"Shut up," Shizuo growled, standing up from the couch.

Shinra, who felt like he was having a déjà vu, stood up as well and tried to stop the two. "Shizuo, please try to calm down. I don't want to have my apartment destroyed. And Izaya, stop provoking Shizuo."

"I wasn't provoking him. I merely asked him how he was doing," Izaya replied, smiling innocently at Shinra.

"Izaya…"

"Yes?"

Shinra sighed, giving up. Then he turned to Shizuo. "And to answer your question: He is still here because he needs to recover," Shinra explained.

"He looks fine to me"

"Wow, since when does a stupid brute like you have such an outstanding knowledge of medicine?" Izaya asked mockingly.

"Izaya, stop it," Shinra said with a stern voice.

"I don't know why you are letting him stay when he's being nothing but annoying," Shizuo said.

"It's more like he forces me to stay here," Izaya corrected him.

"Because you still need to recover!" Shinra insisted.

"Then why don't you just leave?" Shizuo asked, simply ignoring Shinra's statement.

"Maybe I should," Izaya said, walking towards the front door.

"You can't leave yet, Izaya!" Shinra tried to convince him.

"Yes, I can. I told you before that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." And with that, Izaya rushed out, leaving his mobile and laptop behind. He had to hurry, otherwise Shinra may go after him.

He merely walked a couple of blocks, when he heard his name being called.

"Orihara Izaya?" the unfamiliar voice asked.

Izaya turned around, only to suddenly feel a sharp pain in his lower chest.


	4. Chapter 4

After Shizuo left, Shinra made himself a cup of tea and sat down on the couch, waiting for his precious Celty to return. After a few moments, his phone began to ring.

"Hello~?" He greeted.

"_Is this Kishitani Shinra speaking_?" a young, female voice asked.

"Yes, and who are you?" Shinra replied.

"_I'm from the Ikebukuro Hospital and I'm calling because you were on the emergency contacts of one of our patients, Orihara Izaya_," the woman informed him.

"Eh? What happened? Is he okay?"

"_He's currently being operated, so I can't say anything specific yet, but it looks like he has been stabbed in the chest_."

"Stabbed? When did it happen?" Shinra asked disbelievingly.

"_About an hour ago_."

An hour ago. That meant that Izaya was stabbed right after he had left Shinra's apartment.

"_Sir, are you still there_?" the woman asked.

"Ah, yes. I'm on my way," Shinra replied and hung up.

He was shocked, to say the least. And angry. Angry at himself for not trying harder to make Izaya stay and for not even following Izaya after he did leave. The informant probably wouldn't have been stabbed that way.

Shinra's thoughts were interrupted when the front door was being opened and Celty came in.

[What's wrong?] she asked, seeming to notice Shinra's distress.

"Izaya's in the hospital. He was stabbed," he answered her.

[Are you serious?] she asked disbelievingly.

Shinra nodded.

[We should go there then.] she said, already walking to the front door.

"Wait, let me call Shizuo first," the doctor said.

[Shizuo? Why?] Celty asked him, but Shinra was already on the phone.

"Shizuo, it's Shinra. I need you to meet me in front of the Ikebukuro Hospital," Shinra said.

"_Eh? But I just was at your place._"

"Yeah, but this is important. I tell you when we meet there. Just hurry," he told Shizuo and then hung up.

[Why do you want Shizuo to meet us there?] Celty asked, hoping to get an answer this time.

"I explain everything when we're there," Shinra said, while the two of them were on their way to the hospital.

[But he surely will leave once he knows that it's about Izaya.] She asked, trying to get more information out of the doctor.

"Don't worry about it," Shinra told Celty, who somehow had a bad feeling about this.

Shortly after they arrived at the hospital, they were joined by Shizuo, who looked somewhat annoyed.

"Well, are you going to tell me what this is about?" Shizuo asked impatiently.

"Let's go inside first," Shinra replied, rushing into the hospital, closely followed by Celty.

Shizuo 'tch'ed and began to slowly follow the other two.

Shinra went to the receptionist, who look skeptically at Celty but didn't say anything, and asked where Izaya was.

"Are you a family member?" the receptionist asked.

"No," Shinra answered and just as he was about to add something, he was interrupted by the receptionist.

"Then you can't visit him," she said.

"My name is Kishitani Shinra; I'm on the emergency contacts," he explained.

"Oh," the woman said. "One moment, please," she then added, stood up, and left.

Meanwhile, Shizuo finally caught up and shortly after that, a woman walked towards them.

"Sorry for the wait. My name is Izuna Rui; we talked on the phone earlier. I still can't say anything specific about his condition, since he is still in surgery. It should be over soon, if everything goes smoothly. If you like to, you can wait in the waiting room until the surgery is over," she said with a gentle voice.

"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you very much," Shinra replied and the woman led the group to the room.

As soon as Shinra, Celty and Shizuo got in the room and the door was closed, Shizuo spoke up. "Are you telling me what's going on, now?" he asked, more impatient than before.

"Ah, yes. Hmm… How should I say this?" Shinra began, smiling nervously. "Remember when you arrived at my place and how Izaya left after you saw him?"

"Yeah," Shizuo replied uncertainly, narrowing his eyes at the doctor.

"Well, as it turns out he was stabbed in the chest by someone soon after he left my apartment," Shinra said, his smile dropping slightly and his eyes getting a little sad, but he tried to remain his composure.

Shizuo was quiet for a moment. "…Are you saying that-"

"Yes," Shinra interrupted him. "We're here because we're visiting Izaya."

Shizuo let out a breath, obviously trying to remain calm. "And why are you thinking it is necessary that I am here, too?"

"Actually, I have a favor to ask."

"And what favor would that be?"

"I need you to look after Izaya for a while."

"…What?!" Shizuo yelled. "Are you fucking insane?! Why would you ask me to look after this damned flea?"

"Shizuo," Shinra began, suddenly thinking that this idea may not be as good as he originally thought. "Please calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! Are you even realizing what you are asking of me?!" Shizuo responded, not yelling any less.

"Well, when he gets released from the hospital, I'm sure that he won't stay at my place any longer and when he's on his own there is a high chance that he is attacked again," Shinra explained.

"Tch, I'm sure that he can defend himself just fine."

"Normally, I would agree with you, but you have to consider that he is injured."

"It probably isn't even that bad."

"Shizuo, I'm sure you remember when I told you about Izaya's injuries a week ago and it doesn't take a genius to see what he went through those two months he was missing, even if he doesn't tell us. And on top of that, he was stabbed in the chest. He could have died, so don't tell me that it isn't that bad!" Shinra told him, raising his voice near the end, now almost yelling as well.

Shizuo was speechless, not expecting Shinra to get so emotionally. "So why do you want me to look after him?" he asked eventually.

"I thought that when he's back at his apartment that you could move in for a while and look after him so that nothing dangerous happens. Only until he's better, of course," the doctor said, calming down again.

"What if I don't want to do it?" the blonde asked.

Shinra sighed. He knew that it would be hard to convince Shizuo to do it, but he wanted to avoid saying what he said next. "You do know that it's partly your fault that he was stabbed, right?"

"What?" Shizuo replied.

"He wouldn't have left if you weren't there and told him to do so," Shinra explained.

Shizuo didn't like it when people got hurt, especially if they were injured by his hand. He hated violence, but when people provoked him, he just couldn't control it. Even though he hated Izaya and always fought with him, the thought that he could have actually died and that it was his fault shocked him.

[Shinra, I think you're going too far.] Celty said, holding her phone so that both of them could see the message.

"No, he's right," Shizuo replied.

And before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and a middle aged nurse entered. "Excuse me. I wanted to inform you that the patient is now out of surgery," she said.

* * *

**Yeah, I don't really like this chapter. There is so much talking! But the next chapter will be better. Not that it can get any worse than that. And I will try not to end every chapter with a cliffhanger. As for this chapter, I think that it's not really a cliffhanger, but still cliffhangerish... I guess.**

**I also want to thank everyone who reviewed/alerted/favourited/read the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, long time no see! I know that this is a rather short chapter, but I wanted to upload something as soon as possible after such a long time. I actually wrote half of this chapter a long time ago, but I didn't finish it until now.  
****The next chapter will probably come out pretty soon, since I have a lot of free time right now.**

* * *

"He's not awake yet, but he should be soon," the nurse told them while she was leading them to Izaya's room. When they entered, they noticed that Izaya was the only patient in here. "There were no complications during the surgery, so should be able to go home in about a week, depending on how well he recovers," She explained.

"Do you know what exactly happened to him?" Shinra asked.

"We only know that he has been stabbed and that it could have been deadly if he hadn't gotten help in time, but apart from that, I can't really tell you anything else, sorry," she answered.

"I see," He replied.

"I can't imagine who would do something like that to him," The nurse said, more to herself than to the others.

Shinra was surprised at how the nurse sounded when she was talking about Izaya, so he asked, "Do you know him?"

"Ah, yes… though it's been some time since I last saw him. About 10 years, I think, but I still remember him very well. He was such a nice boy. He was quiet and somewhat distant, but nice nonetheless. I feel sorry for him that he had to go through all that stuff," She said.

The others weren't sure if they just heard what they thought they did. Izaya and nice? Were they even talking about the same person? The Izaya they knew was someone who enjoyed playing with other people's lives. Surely the nurse had to be mistaking him for someone else, right?

Shinra, who was bothered by something else that the nurse said, asked, "What do you mean with him having to go through all of that stuff?"

"You don't know about that? I thought you were his friends."

"We are! He just doesn't really tell us anything about himself," Shinra explained.

"Well, if he hasn't told you about it, then it can't either," The nurse replied.

The group asked themselves what could have happened to Izaya that was so bad that the nurse couldn't tell them about it. Izaya surely wouldn't tell them something that he had kept silent about for 10 years. He didn't even tell them what had happened to him recently.

In that moment, Izaya's body began to stir and his eyes were opening slowly.

The nurse rushed to his side, pulled a small flashlight out of her pocket and checked his eyes. The others followed her, though they kept their distance.

Izaya slowly brought his hands up to his face and tried to shield himself from the light. He began to open his mouth, but the nurse spoke first.

"Hello, Izaya. You're in the hospital right now. Do you know what happened?" She asked in a soft tone.

"I… was attacked," he said, trying to sit up, but the nurse gently put her hands on his shoulders to stop him from doing so.

"It would be better not to try to sit up at the moment," the nurse advised. "How are you feeling?"

Izaya was silent for a while, letting the situation sink in. Then, he suddenly seemed to realize who the person was that was talking to him. "Hiroko-san?"

"So you remember me," she replied. "I admit that I was shocked when I found out what happened and I immediately asked to be the one to take care of you. Just what have you gotten yourself into?"

"…It's been a long time since we two saw each other," Izaya said, ignoring Hiroko's question.

"Indeed. About 10 years, I think," she said. "Well, I' going to leave now and let you and your friends alone." And with that, she left.

"…Friends?" the informant asked himself, only now noticing the other people that where in the room. When he realized exactly who they were, the informant's expression turned into one of shock for a split second, but he quickly composed himself and forced a smile on his lips.

"Hey, Izaya. It's good to see that you're okay," Shinra greeted him, walking closer towards the bed.

"Hello there, Shinra. It's nice to see you, too," Izaya replied, trying not to sound as worn out as he was feeling and letting his gaze wander to the two other individuals who hadn't moved from their spot. "…but would you mind telling me those two are doing here?"

"Celty is the one who drove me here and Shizuo… well," the doctor tried to explain.

"Be grateful that somebody is visiting you, at least!" Shizuo spoke up.

"Oh, I am _very _grateful, Shizu-chan. The fact that you are here must mean that you care a lot about me, ne?" Izaya said, his smile still present.

"Do you really want to die that badly?! I will gladly hel-!" Shizuo started angrily, stomping towards Izaya, but he was stopped by Shinra.

"Please calm down, Shizuo. Remember what we talked about earlier?"

That seemed to be enough to stop Shizuo, who just 'tch'ed and turned his head away from the informant, wishing to be able to smoke.

Izaya, who was surprised at how that simple sentence could calm such a monster as Shizuo down, turned his attention towards the underground doctor. "What _did _you talk about earlier?"

"Hmm… let me start like this: I guess you don't want to return to place after leaving the hospital, right? But I also think that it's too dangerous for you to live alone."

"Shinra, I already said that I can take care of myself."

"Not while you're this injured. There's also a possibility that you're going to be attacked again, and you just can't defend yourself like that."

"I'm not going to live with you again," the informant insisted.

"I'm not saying you have to," Shinra said.

"Then what _are _you saying?" Izaya asked the doctor.

"I'm saying that someone is going to be living with you for a while to look after you. That someone being Shizuo," he explained calmly.

"What?! Are you suggesting that that brute will be living in _my _apartment, while 'taking care' of me?"

"That's right."

"He will kill me as soon as he gets the chance to!"

"No, he won't do that. Right, Shizuo?" Shinra said, turning his head to the debt collector.

"Yeah…" the blonde mumbled.

"…You can't be serious," Izaya said disbelievingly, more to himself than to the others.

"It's going to be fine, Izaya. Don't worry too much about it for now. We will pick you up once you are allowed to leave the hospital," the doctor reassured him.

Then the group said their goodbyes and left, leaving Izaya alone in his hospital bed.


End file.
